1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a specimen dispensing system for dispensing specimens such as blood and urine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-227800 discloses a prior art specimen dispensing system. This system is so configured that a specimen in a specimen container on a master line is dispensed to its corresponding specimen containers on a plurality of (two) slave lines by a plurality of (two) nozzles.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a specimen dispensing system that is substantially the same as the above prior art system. The system shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 includes first to sixth conveyor lanes 1 to 6. The first to third conveyor lanes 1 to 3 convey master specimen containers 11 to 13 and the fourth to sixth conveyor lanes 4 to 6 convey slave specimen containers 21 to 23. Master specimens are removed from the master specimen containers 11 to 13 and dispensed to the slave specimen containers 21 to 23, which are empty, using first to third dispensing nozzles N1 to N3, respectively.
After the dispensing, the master specimen containers 11 to 13 are returned by a return lane 7. The slave specimen containers 21 to 23 are returned by a return lane 8. In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference symbol La indicates a dispensing tip mounting position and reference symbol Lb indicates a dispensing tip discarding position. The first to third dispensing nozzles N1 to N3 can be moved in a direction crossing the conveyor lanes (right and left directions in FIGS. 3 and 4) by a dispensing nozzle moving mechanism S (see FIG. 4) that is controlled by a controller (not shown). In FIG. 3, NP1 to NP3 represent moving positions of the first to third dispensing nozzles N1 to N3, respectively.
Pay attention to the movement of, for example, the first dispensing nozzle N1 in the above dispensing operation. Referring to FIG. 4, the nozzle N1 discards a used dispensing tip Tb in the dispensing tip discarding position Lb and mounts a new dispensing tip Ta in the dispensing tip mounting position La. After that, the nozzle N1 moves to the first conveyor lane 1 and removes a master specimen from the master specimen container 11. The nozzle N1 moves to the position of the empty slave specimen container 21 on the fourth conveyor lane 4 and dispenses the master specimen to the container 21. Then, the nozzle N1 returns to the original position. The second and third dispensing nozzles N2 and N3 perform the same operation.
The above prior art specimen dispensing system causes the following disadvantage if the dispensing nozzles N1 to N3 are quickly moved in order to perform a dispensing operation at high speed. When the dispensing nozzles N1 to N3 move beyond a fixed speed, the removed specimens are likely to be scattered due to a shock caused when the nozzles are stopped, though there are differences in the shape and size of dispensing tips mounted on the nozzles N1 to N3 and the type of specimens. If the specimens are scattered, not only will they decrease in amount but also a so-called contamination occurs, thus causing serious problems.
In order to avoid the above problems, each of the dispensing nozzles restricts its moving speed by itself. The nozzles therefore decrease in throughput. To provide a number of dispensing nozzles, however, increases the size of the system.